Poison
by Spuffyfan394
Summary: Spike gets poisoned and Buffy decides to help him.


Buffy was on patrol and hadn't found anything except a few vamps which she dusted in a matter of minutes. She decided to go and bug Spike. So she kicked in his doors. She walked into his crypt and saw he was nowhere to be found. She opened the hatch to the basement of the crypt and saw him asleep on his bed.

 _'He shouldn't be asleep it's dark out.'_

Then she noticed the bruises and cuts on his face.

'What happened _to him_?'she wondered.

Just as she thought that, Spike stirred and as he moved it looked like he had a pained expression on his face. She walked over and put a hand on his shoulder and noticed he felt warm. Spike chose that moment to wake up. He didn't notice at first that it was her cool hand that woke him up.

"Slayer!" he said trying to act completely fine.

"What happened to you, Spike?

He tried to ignore the question as he got up to put on a shirt. Buffy then saw the long, deep cut that spread from his lower left side and ended right where his unbeating heart was. The cut was bleeding, but Spike paid no attention to it.

"Spike, what happened," Buffy asked again getting angry.

Just when she asked that Spike collapsed. She rushed over to stop him from hitting the ground.

He muttered "demon, couldn't kill, think it was poisonous"

Buffy helped him onto his bed and laid him on his back. She got a better look at the cut and saw it was eating away at the muscle below it making it deeper. Spike was now radiating heat, which was not normal for a vampire at all; a vampire was normally room temp. She took out her phone and called Willow.

"Will, can you come over to Spike's crypt something's wrong, I think he's been poisoned"

She hung up the phone and turned back to Spike who was a nasty pale(er) color than a few minutes ago. The door opened and Willow came down the ladder with a bag.

"Is the poison doing anything you know different?" She asked.

"It seems to be eating the flesh around this cut he has on his torso."

Willow walked over and looked at the cut. She then walked over to her bag took out a book and stopped at the page.

"The cure to the poison is easy to make I just need to go get the ingredients"

"Do you have them at home?"

She nodded and headed back up the ladder.

"I'll be back with the antidote"

Buffy nodded and turned her attention back to Spike. He skin was a pink color. That meant he had a fever and that was really bad. Buffy walked over to the make shift bathroom and grabbed a washcloth, wetted it under the water and walked back over to Spike. She placed it on his forehead hoping it would help. Then she went up the ladder to find a bowl. After she found it, she filled it with cold water. By now the cut had covered the spot he was lying in, in blood. She walked over to where she knew he kept a fist- aid kit for when she came in injured. Buffy walked back over to him and started taking care of the worst cuts and bruises. He started to thrash and moan a bit and she stroked his hair to try to comfort him a bit. After that was finished Buffy walked over to the book Willow left open and looked at the part that talks about the poison.

It said, **the poison is used solely on Vampire and it doesn't kill them it leaves them empty, as soon and the poison reaches the Vampire's unused vital organ. The only way the poison can be slowed down is to put human blood where the poison entered. If the poison reaches its target the vampire is left unable to feel, hear, see, or eat anything. The Vampire is as if there is nothing there. Even if the poison is cured it leaves the Vampire with human healing for at least a few weeks.** By the end of this she was close to tears, she may hate Spike but she didn't want this to happen to him. She grabbed one of her stakes and cut her hand with it, hoping this worked she walked over to him and let the blood drip on to the wound. She covered the wound with her blood and wrapped her hand with gauze. Then she heard the crypt door open again and Willow can back down the ladder with a vial. Buffy took the vial from Willow.

"Thanks, Will"

She walked over to Spike and uncorked the vial. She tipped the vial over Spike mouth. He seemed to swallow and the next second he was coughing. He opened his eyes and looked at Buffy with confused eyes.

"You were poisoned," She explained.

He then looked at Willow and she seemed to see what he was thinking and nodded in acknowledgement. Willow then went back up the ladder and a few seconds later they heard the crypt door close. Buffy looked back at Spike and noticed he look extremely tired.

"Spike?" She waited for him to look at her, "Get some rest"

She moved a chair next to his bed and as he fell asleep she started patching up the long cut. A few seconds later he was asleep. She finished on the cut and fell asleep in the chair.

When Spike woke up he realized he didn't feel much better, His vampire healing should have kicked in by now and he should feel at least a little better. He then noticed Buffy sleeping in the seat next to the bed in a chair.

 _'That can't be comfortable'_

He got out of the bed slowly and headed up the ladder to get a blood bag. By the time he gets to the top he felt drained. He walked over to the fridge and took out a blood bag and put it in a cup. He drank it before heading back down to his bed. Spike laid down on his bed and fell asleep again. He had never felt so weak before, as a vampire. Buffy woke up the next morning and realized she had stayed there all night. She quickly gathered up her bag and things and left. When she got home she headed up to her room. She quickly showered and got dressed. After she was finished she went downstairs to get Dawn's breakfast out. Dawn came down a few minutes later.

"Where were you all night?"

"Out."

"Out where?"

"It's none of your business."

"Alright miss grouchy."

Dawn poured the cereal in her bowl and after adding milk started eating. Buffy did the same though she wasn't really hungry. Buffy looked at the clock and realized what time it was.

"Dawn you need to hurry up you'll be late for school."

"Alright, alright, I can't eat much faster."

Buffy cleared the table after Dawn was finished and washed the dishes. There was a knock on the door and Buffy heard Dawn answer it.

"Hey Xander."

"Hey Dawn, is Buffy home?"

"She came home this morning."

"Did she tell you where she was?"

"All she said was she was out, she's in the kitchen."

Buffy heard both their footsteps behind her. She set the last dish in the cupboard and turned to them.

"Dawn told me you came home this morning."

"Xander it's none of your business either."

"Buffy we're just worried about you."

"I'm fine there' s no reason to be it's not like I was out partying all night or anything."

"Then why won't you tell us where you were."

"I was out patrolling, alright I found a large nest and had to take care of it. You should leave so Dawn's not late."

"Alright, See you later Buff."

Xander and Dawn both headed out of the house and Buffy decided to get run a few errands and then go check on Spike. After she was finished Buffy headed to the cemetery. Buffy entered Spike's crypt and walked over to the fridge. She filled a glass with blood and put into the microwave. After it beeped she took it downstairs to him. As she turned around she noticed he was still asleep. Buffy walked over and put the mug of blood on the nightstand. She then placed a hand on his shoulder and shook it gently. He opened his and eyes and immediately reached out to push her hand off of him thinking she was going to attack him.

"Easy, Spike, I brought you some blood."

He looked at her for a second before sitting up and picking up the mug. Buffy noticed as he sat up be tried to hid a wince. He quickly drank the blood. Spike put the empty mug down. Buffy watched as Spike quickly get up and ran into the make shift bathroom. Buffy turned away as she heard him get sick. She had almost told him not the drink the blood so fast. When he was finished he flushed the toilet and stumbled back to the bed. Spike sat on the edge of the bed. 

"Why are you here, shouldn't you be off with the scoobies trying to foil a plan?"

"I don't know why."

"What do you mean you don't know why? You don't have anything better to do have laugh at me?"

"I'm not laughing at you."

"Just leave me alone. I don't need your help."

"Spike, I'm just trying to help-

"I told you I don't need your help. I'm fine. Go home and burn something."

"Fine, I try to be nice and just get it thrown in my face. I'll leave next time I won't save your ass. Waste away for all I care."

Spike didn't know what to say to that. His memory from the day before was fuzzy. Buffy climbed up the ladder and walked over to the door. She couldn't make herself leave though. So instead she just slammed the crypt door shut. Spike decided to go up and get some more blood. He had misinterpreted how much strength he had and as he got halfway up the ladder before his limbs gave out. Buffy had just sat in the chair when she heard he noise. Buffy looked down the hatch to see Spike lying on the ground.

 _'Stubborn vampire.'_

Buffy carefully made her way down the ladder and moved to help him. Spike just glared at her. She got him over to the bed.

"Thought you left."

"Thought you said you were fine. Cause that's not what that looked like."

Spike looked away. He knew he was defeated but he would never admit it out loud.

"Will you let me help you?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"You do understand you were poisoned less than 12 hours ago right? It's not something that you can recovery from quickly. Even for a vampire."

"There was a time when you would have staked me instead of helping me remember?"

"Yeah, well I like to think that what you did for Dawn got us on better terms. I could have just left you to be a soulless walking skeleton you know. But I decided to help you. I'm going back up the ladder so you can figure out what the hell you want."

For the second time that day Spike was speechless. He watched as Buffy went back up the ladder. He wasn't sure what Buffy was talking about because no poison to his knowledge did that to anyone let alone a vampire. He then noticed the book that was open on the edge of the bed. Spike moved the book closer to see it and realized it talked about the poison. He read the passage and was thankful that Buffy had helped him. Spike closed the book and set it on the nightstand. Spike laid back down and fell sleep. He had realized he had no choice he wasn't well enough to do much himself at the moment. If Buffy wanted to spend her time helping him so be it. Buffy was watching the TV while she assumed Spike was asleep since it was quiet downstairs. It had been a few hours since he had fallen asleep. There was nothing interesting on the TV though so she turned it off. Buffy decided since it had been a while to get a glass of blood for Spike. She poured some in a glass and put it in the microwave. When it had finished she quietly went down the ladder and placed it on the nightstand. Shen then noticed that the book she had looked at the previous day was on the nightstand. She must have left it opened and he read it. Before heading back up the ladder she glanced at him. She had never realized how peaceful he looked while he slept. Spike opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Drink it slower this time."

Then she headed back up the ladder. Spike sat up and picked up the glass. He took a sip and waited to make sure he didn't get sick again. After he was sure he was fine he drank more of the blood and after a few minutes he finished it. He set the glass down on the nightstand. The blood was helping him feel better but it wasn't helping as much as he'd like.

Spike didn't want to go back to sleep just yet because he felt like that was all he was doing and he hated it. He decided to risk climbing up the ladder again. This time he got up it without incident but he did feel tired after. He walked over to the fridge and got another glass of blood. After he put it in the microwave. When the microwave dinged he took the mug out and drank some. He turned around and didn't see anyone. He figured Buffy had found something better to do then babysit him. Spike walked over and sat in the armchair. He finished the glass of blood he made and set the cup on the ground.

He decided to turn the TV on but he didn't get a chance to do anything else as his crypt door was kicked in. Spike stood up and as he did he knew it was Buffy who had come in.

"Came back to babysit me more?"

"Oh, I didn't expect you to be up here."

Buffy walked over to the tomb and put a couple paper bags on it.

"I got you more blood cause you're running low."

She put the blood in the fridge and Spike sat back down in the chair.

"You don't have to look after me. I can take care of myself, been doing it longer than you've been alive."

"Yeah, because you looked like you were doing just fine yesterday."

He glared at her.

"Don't be such a baby."  
"I didn't ask to get poisoned."

"Do you know what demon did it?"

"Wasn't a demon."

"What was it?"

"It wasn't a what, it was a tainted blood bag."

Buffy then remembered the ones in the fridge earlier were all human blood.

"What?"

"Someone must have set a trap for a vampire or something."

"Was there only one?"

"No there were a couple, that why it hit me so bad."

Buffy nodded.

"Are there any others?"

"I was figuring I'd just toss the rest of them."

"I can take care of that."

And that is what she did. Buffy opened the fridge and took the older blood bags out and put them in the bag to throw away later.

"You'll have to do with pig's blood, at least it's safer."

"It's not the first time."

"Maybe you should stay off of human blood."

"Are you insane?"

"No I just figured if someone is poisoning blood to get to vampires they won't do it to animal blood and I hate when you drink human blood."

"Oh, then by all means, I'll stop for you."

"Spike I'm serious.

Spike rolled his eyes and replied,

"Fine."

Buffy smiled triumphantly.

Spike had given up trying to refuse Buffy's help but that didn't mean he was happy about it. Over the next few days Spike had managed to finish the blood Buffy had brought. He was feeling a lot better than he had been and about seven days after he had been poisoned he felt completely fine. He and Buffy went back to their normal relationship but he would never forget that she had helped him. Towards the end of the week they had actually started talking like two people that got along and he learned that Willow had also helped. Buffy had explained how Spike got poisoned to Willow and she agreed to look into it. One day while Spike and Buffy were sitting on the tomb and talking.

"How did you get that cut you had on your torso?"

"I got into a bar fight the night before I got the new blood."

Buffy nodded.

"Any idea if whomever poisoned it is after you or if it's just random?"

"I don't have a clue."

"Spike, that's not helpful. How'd you get the blood?"

"Stole it from the blood bank."

Buffy sighed.

"That's probably where the poison came from. I already told you I don't like it when you steal so I won't bore you."

Spike rolled his eyes.

"I'll have Will look into the blood bank, I'll stop by later this week just to make sure you're not dead...er."

"You don't have to I can take care of myself."

She gave him a look but left his crypt. After the sun went down that night Spike went to the butcher shop and got more blood. Buffy went home and told Willow What Spike had said and she started looking into the blood bank. After a couple house of searching she called Buffy over and showed Buffy what she found.

Buffy went to Spike's crypt the next morning before she had to go to work. Spike was watching TV and drinking a glass of blood.

"Willow figured it out last night."

Spike turned off the TV and walked over to where Buffy was standing.

"Someone at the blood bank had been noticing some of the bags disappearing and had decided to take matters into their own hands by buying a poison that didn't effect humans. And they had put them in a handful of the bags."

"Did you figure out who it was?"


End file.
